Germany's Sabine Lisicki backed up her shock win over the world No1 Serena Williams by beating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6 3 6 3 to reach the semi finals at Wimbledon for the second time in four years. The 23 year old showed greater composure and used her greater experience to move within one win of her first grand slam final.
Having upended defending champion Williams in arguably the biggest shock of a tournament on Monday the fear was that the German would experience the kind of let down that so often follows a surprise victory. But the No23 seed was calm throughout and mixed her natural power with a delicate touch to run out a comfortable winner.
I am very happy said Lisicki who plays the winner of the match between the fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and China's Li Na. It was an amazing match against Serena so I had to make sure I calmed down quick enough to be ready today. But I think the experience I had of being in the quarters here three times before helped me a lot.
It was always going to be hard to match the intensity of her match with Williams. Although the unseeded Kanepi had played four grand slam quarter finals it was her first at Wimbledon and with her nerves clearly jangling there were more groans than cheers in the early stages. Lisicki looked switched on but Kanepi's inconsistent ball toss betrayed her lack of calm and the German broke in the first game.
Kanepi who had beaten Britain's Laura Robson in the previous round possesses as much power as Lisicki but can be hugely erratic when she misses it tends to be by a long way and the German's greater consistency and variety kept her in front before she broke again to take the opening set.
A dip from Lisicki allowed Kanepi to break for a 2 1 lead in the second but a double fault handed the break straight back. From then on Kanepi's belief slipped away and two backhand errors gave Lisicki a cushion as she broke and then held easily to lead 5 2.
Kanepi held serve to force Lisicki to serve it out and at 40 15 she had two match points. Kanepi saved the first with a fine return and Lisicki missed the second with a wild forehand wide. But the German held her nerve and after forcing a third match point clinched victory with a drive volley into the open court.
Some bookmakers made the 2011 semi finalist Lisicki the favourite for the title after her win over Williams but she said she was not feeling any added burden.
There's no pressure because for me it's still a game I love so much and I want to keep it that way she said. I'm going out there for every match to win it and we'll see what happens.
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